Tony and Jo Ann's Travels: Day 1 of the Cruise

The sun sets very late this time of year in Alaska, depending on where you are it can be between 9:30 and 11:15 PM. It also comes up early between 4 and 5 AM. However, just because the sun comes up doesn’t mean you see it. As we cruised towards Ketchikan, our first destination, I learned the true meaning of “50 shades of grey”. Whoever coined that phrase must have been from Alaska! As sunrise approached, the sky became a lighter shade of gray and as the clouds descended around us, so did the rain. Cancun gets 240 days of sun and Ketchikan gets 240 days of rain. They must have one of the highest suicide rates in the country because it’s always rainy and gray!.

After a delicious breakfast we made our way off the ship, equipped with rain gear and 2 tons of camera equipment. Our plan was to wander around town and explore the city. Ketchikan has the largest totem pole collection in Alaska, so they had several museums and parks with totem poles that you could visit. I think its the totem pole capital of the world between the totem poles in residents yards and those for sale.

There also was a cute area, Creek Street that now has shopping-but had previously been a bordello, a salmon stream running underneath the raised boardwalk where the shops are located and a funicular that would take you to an overlook of the city. There also was a Tribal hatchery and eagle center that I was interesting in visiting.

Eagle Totem in Downtown Ketchikan

We took a little shuttle from the dock to Creek Street, first stop of our excursion. We looked for the salmon beneath the stores as we window shopped as it was very early and most of the stores hadn’t opened yet. We stopped into a local information center who gave us directions to the Heritage Totem Pole From the ship, we had seen eagles diving in the harbor and one of them flew right by the window where we were eating breakfast. Anxious to find a bald eagle, we walked towards the Totem Pole Center along the water front as the rain started coming down harder. As we rounded a corner, there I spotted a Bald Eagle on top of a piling. Hiding behind a piling, one because it was blocking the rain and two so we wouldn’t scare the bird, I changed out my camera to have a monster lens so I could get a good closeup. We probably were only 50 feet away and the poor eagle was as wet as we were. We watched him for a while and he then flew off into some adjacent trees. We kept following him as he was going in the same direction we were.

As we finally said goodbye to our first eagle of the trip we finally arrived at the totem pole center. A small facility with an informative inside display with some original antique totem poles that were made by the native Tlingit Indians.

One of the most interesting things inside was the antique pictures of the Eskimos with gigantic halibut. Reminiscing about fishing when I was a kid, the 8lb 2 oz flounder my dad caught was humongous. Up here, that would be the bait! The Eskimo made hooks out of carved 1” sticks-one 12" and one 8” long lashed them together and used a rock the size of a large pear as a sinker. With that configuration they would catch 150 lb. halibut! Everything just grows big up here!

Adjacent to the Totem Pole Center was the Tribal Hatchery and Bald Eagle Center, however, for some reason had been closed down. Ketchikan was originally established as a Salmon saltery in 1883 with a salmon cannery being established 2 years later. For years, salmon fishing and processing were the main industries. Now the main industry is tourism. However, the only salmon I found was in the stores!

Rain was really coming down, so we made our way back to the ship, had lunch. Tony had nicknamed Ketchikan, Ketch-a-cold as we were getting drenched by the rain!

There are so many planes in Alaska, I think everyone owns one!

As luck would have it, shortly after setting sail, the skies began to clear and we had a great afternoon and evening for sailing to Juneau. Once again we had a beautiful sunset and hopes for a sunny day in Juneau.